Americans are finding the cost of health insurance increasing, so that the need for affordable health care is on the rise. Some employers for hardworking employees have had to cut back on some of the health care for everyone because of the rising costs and working with a budget. My work health care plan was, until the latter part of 2006, great but now the benefits it supplied have been reduced. Out of the blue the company decided to change their health care provider because it was costing them too much.

They said that to have a low cost health care scheme for everyone meant we would have to change companies. I suppose some people are better off and perhaps I shouldn't sound ungrateful. I don't mind other workers benefiting but it costs me more now, almost twice as much more to have my family covered in the plan. Other than a few exceptions, everyone else seems to benefit from this new arrangement but because I haven't had a raise but I am taking a great deal less home so my family can have health cover.

To be honest, I got on well with the old provider but can't see that happening here even if the health care plan is half decent. To my mind the whole point of providing this ‘new' affordable health care scheme was a cost cutting exercise for the company which just meant greater expense for some of their employees. I am sure of this because just over 2 years ago when I had my little boy, the stay in hospital was completely covered by my insurance policy. Today, if I had a baby, it would cost me around four thousand dollars for my expenses.

You also have to bear in mind that this additional expense is just the hospital bill and doesn't include the additional work fees I must now pay. Affordable health care options are becoming more widely available because there is a desperate need for them. Those less fortunate can now get free health care more readily and workers without health care are able to join special schemes. In principle, these plans are a good thing but there are always those that misuse it making the situation difficult for genuine cases.

For many people desperately trying to improve their situation these affordable health care plans are a life-line but to others they are just an easy option. Although I say they can be a burden to the state, I really mean a burden to its citizens because it is the tax payer who foots the bill. My employer definitely found advantages in finding a lower cost health plan provider for their employees! Less take home pay was the result of my company's health provider switch with many of its workforce the ones seeing less money to take home for their families. In the long term we really need to do something in America to help those in need find affordable health care.